Wild Notes: Zuccarello, Brodin, Eriksson Ek
Although veteran forward Mats Zuccarello is 38 years old and his contract is expiring, he is not looking to conclude his NHL career. Zuccarello indicated to The Athletic’s Joe Smith that he would like to play next season and beyond, saying “I feel like I have some more years left in me. But it’s up to contracts and everything like that. It’s not up to me always. So let’s just take this series, hopefully (the) next one, and see how far we go here before we start thinking about that.”
Zuccarello, 38, could play in his 1,000th NHL game if he ends up returning for next season. He hasn’t shown many signs of slowing down on the ice. In 2025-26, he scored 15 goals and 54 points in 59 regular-season games. He’s managed two goals and nine points in seven playoff contests. Zuccarello has played the best hockey of his career since superstar forward Kirill Kaprizov arrived in Minnesota, regularly flirting with point-per-game levels of production. He made $4.125MM on his last contract and he’s earned every right to stay at that level – if not exceed it – on his next deal.
Other notes from the State of Hockey:
- Injured Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin will not travel with the team to Colorado for their must-win game five against the Avalanche, Michael Russo of The Athletic reported today. Brodin, 32, suffered a lower-body injury in game five of the team’s first round series against the Dallas Stars. He has not played since. His regular role as Minnesota’s second-pair left-shot defenseman has been taken up by 23-year-old Daemon Hunt, and while Hunt has some admirable qualities to his game, he is a clear downgrade from the 915-game NHL veteran.
- The Wild will also be without injured center Joel Eriksson Ek for game five against the Avalanche, meaning the Wild will need to fight to keep their season alive without their best overall center. Eriksson Ek suffered a lower-body injury and has not played since the series against the Stars. The 29-year-old shutdown pivot scored 51 points in the regular season and five points in six games against Dallas. Eriksson Ek’s qualities as a matchup center would be hugely valuable for the Wild as they try to shut down Nathan MacKinnon and the rest of the Avalanche’s firepower. They’ll have to try to extend their season without him as Eriksson Ek remains injured.
Flyers Notes: Michkov, Martone, Abols
Philadelphia Flyers star winger Matvei Michkov had a trying sophomore season, starting from when he reportedly arrived at training camp out of shape, (per Kevin Kurz of The Athletic) to when he got healthy scratched during the playoffs. The 21-year-old has been viewed as a potential future franchise player since the Flyers selected him No. 7 overall at the 2023 draft, but the 2025-26 campaign raised questions about his overall trajectory. Michkov wasn’t able to build on a successful rookie campaign under former head coach John Tortorella, one that saw him score 26 goals and 63 points. His fit with new head coach Rick Tocchet was questioned at times, with some critics taking aim at Tocchet’s usage of the winger. Michkov averaged just 14:50 time on ice per game, ranking No. 9 among Flyers forwards with double-digit games played.
In his end-of-season media availability today, Michkov said he wants to hit the ground running next season and replicate the form he showed after the Olympic break. In 26 games following that break, he scored seven goals and 22 points while the Flyers went 18-7-1 and secured a playoff spot. The key to doing that will be a productive summer, avoiding having to work his way into peak shape during the season. Michkov said, per team reporter Bill Meltzer, that he will meet with GM Danny Briere later this week to discuss his offseason plan in greater detail.
Other notes from Philadelphia:
- The other star young forward in Philadelphia, Porter Martone, will join Team Canada at the IIHF Men’s World Championships in Switzerland, Hockey Canada announced today. This will be Martone’s second consecutive campaign playing for Canada at Worlds, as the 2025 No. 6 overall pick got into two games for the country’s senior team last season. This season, Martone has been a star scorer in college hockey for Michigan State, a captain for Team Canada at the World Juniors, and a stellar rookie winger for a Flyers team that made a run to the playoffs and upset their arch-rivals in the first round. It’s been quite the campaign for the 19-year-old winger, and he’ll now look to conclude it with a world championship.
- Flyers fourth-line center Rodrigo Abols shared some more detail today on the lower-body injury that ended his season. Per Jordan Hall of NBC Sports, Abols said he had to have surgery as a result of the injury, as there was quite a bit of damage, including a broken fibula. He also added that his recovery is now ahead of schedule. Abols, 30, was a nice find for the Flyers’ scouting staff, signing as a 28-year-old unrestricted free agent from the SHL. He was a full-time NHL-er this season, though his injury limited him to playing in just 47 games.
NHL Announces General Manager Of The Year Finalists
The Wild’s Bill Guerin, the Avalanche’s Chris MacFarland, and the Ducks’ Pat Verbeek are the three finalists for this year’s Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award, the league announced today.
The award is presented annually “to the general manager who best excelled at his role during the regular season.” It is voted on by the League’s general managers and, per the league, “a panel of NHL executives and print and broadcast media” after the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs concludes.
This is the first time all three names have surfaced as finalists for the award. Of the three, Guerin is the longest-tenured lead executive. He was hired in 2019 to lead the Wild, and has guided the team to the playoffs in five of his seven campaigns in charge of the team. His Wild went 46-24-12 this season, good for third place in the Western Conference.
Guerin pulled off what most would likely consider this past season’s boldest transaction, putting together a package of players, prospects, and draft picks strong enough to land Quinn Hughes from the Vancouver Canucks. The move gave the Wild one of the game’s best players and arguably the game’s top defenseman.
He also secured the signature of franchise face Kirill Kaprizov on a massive contract extension, ensuring his team’s centerpiece player would not be departing in free agency. Kaprizov’s signing and the trade for Hughes represent two of the most consequential transactions in franchise history.
While Minnesota were pushed to the brink of elimination by the Avalanche last night, their loss should not diminish what Guerin accomplished this season – and that’s not even including his work constructing America’s roster for the Winter Olympics in Italy, work that resulted in a gold medal. He’s built the Wild into one of the NHL’s strongest teams, and his status as a finalist is a reflection of the strength of his body of work in 2025-26.
Verbeek, who like Guerin is a former longtime NHLer, has been running the Ducks’ hockey operations since February 2022. As GM in Anaheim, Verbeek has engineered a youth movement that is the envy of the NHL, securing high-end young pieces such as Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, and Beckett Sennecke.
But Verbeek hasn’t just stockpiled young talent. It’s his work to supplement his burgeoning young core with strong veteran contributors that has likely landed him as a finalist – and what has helped propel Anaheim to the second round of the playoffs.
Many rebuilding teams end up playing as many young players as possible, and the quality of the team overall suffers. The Ducks have taken a different approach, fusing a high number of young players with significant investments in veteran leaders. The result has been strong player development outcomes across the board, and the elevation of the Ducks into a winning, playoff-caliber team.
Verbeek signed Mikael Granlund and Alex Killorn as free agents, and landed Chris Kreider, Jacob Trouba, and most recently John Carlson via trade. Those additions, combined with the offseason hire of three-time Stanley Cup champion head coach Joel Quenneville, have supercharged the Ducks’ rebuild and pushed them back to contention at a quick pace.
Of the three finalists, MacFarland has been GM for the shortest period of time, though his tenure in Colorado overall actually stretches back more than a decade. Joe Sakic’s longtime assistant GM took the reins in 2022, and has since helped turn the Avalanche into a Presidents’ Trophy winner.
MacFarland’s bold decision to move on from star forward Mikko Rantanen, who was inching closer to unrestricted free agency, appears to have paid off. His direct replacement Martin Necas had an 100-point season and is now signed through 2033-34. MacFarland was also able to retain veteran pivot Brock Nelson, who ended up a Selke Trophy finalist in his first full campaign in Denver.
MacFarland has been able to find diamonds in the rough, such as Sam Malinski and Parker Kelly to support a contending team with fewer available draft picks thanks to trades designed to secure veteran talent.
The work of MacFarland and his staff has Colorado in a position to potentially win its second Stanley Cup of the 2020s, and that’s why he’s a finalist for GM of the year.
Photos courtesy of Nick Wosika-Imagn Images
East Notes: Gudbranson, Malenstyn, Xhekaj
Among the pending unrestricted free agents the Columbus Blue Jackets have on their roster, few are more experienced than veteran defenseman Erik Gudbranson. Earlier this month, Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff reported that the Blue Jackets will part ways with Gudbranson, but today The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline reported that such a decision is premature. Both Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell and Gudbranson’s agent Pat Morris of Newport Sports Management told Portzline that “no such conversation has taken place.” Furthermore, Portzline wrote that “The Blue Jackets are hoping to sign Gudbranson” though actual negotiations on a deal have not yet begun.
Gudbranson, 34, has been with the Blue Jackets for the last four seasons, playing out a four-year, $4MM AAV free agent contract he signed with the club in the summer of 2022. A veteran of over 800 NHL games, Gudbranson has struggled to stay healthy in each of the last two campaigns. Shoulder surgery limited him to just 16 games played in 2024-25, while hip and upper-body injuries kept him to just 37 games this past year. It’s likely that if Gudbranson does re-sign in Columbus, it’ll be on a contract with a pay cut from the $4MM AAV he earned on his last deal.
Other notes from the Eastern Conference:
- Buffalo Sabres forward Beck Malenstyn was fined $3,515.63, the maximum allowable under the collective bargaining agreement, for goalie interference against Montreal Canadiens netminder Jakub Dobes. The play in question happened midway through the second period of last night’s game three. Malenstyn crashed the net hard and barrelled into Dobes, making seemingly little effort to avoid significant contact with the goalie. He was assessed a minor penalty on the play and Montreal scored on the ensuing power play to make it a 4-1 contest. Malenstyn, a physical fourth-line forward, scored 14 points in the regular season and led all Sabres players with 282 hits.
- Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj was fined $3,385.42, the maximum allowable under the CBA, for roughing Buffalo Sabres forward Sam Carrick. The play in question came at the end of the game, during a scrum. While the players were tussling, Xhekaj delivered a punch straight to Carrick’s head, dropping the veteran forward to the ice. The game was Carrick’s first in the lineup since March 31, as he was sidelined with an arm injury. Like Malenstyn, Xhekaj is one of his team’s most physical players, leading the Canadiens in hits this season with 178 in 65 games.
Avalanche Notes: Manson, Kiviranta, Ahcan
Colorado Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson will be available to dress in game four of the team’s series against the Minnesota Wild tonight, head coach Jared Bednar told the media today. (via The Athletic’s Peter Baugh) Manson has been out since April 23 with an upper-body injury. He missed the final game of the Avalanche’s first-round series against the Los Angeles Kings, and has missed the first three contests against the Wild.
When he was last in the lineup, Manson skated on the left side of the team’s third pairing, partnering with veteran Brent Burns. In Manson’s absence, Nick Blankenburg has occupied that role. Swapping Blankenburg for Manson would be a significant change, since Blankenburg is a quick, undersized defenseman (he stands 5’9″, 177 pounds) while Manson is a 6’3″ 218-pound defensive force. Bednar said today that he believes Manson’s physicality and size will be a boon against a heavyweight Wild team, meaning the Avalanche are likely eager to put him back in their lineup as they chase a 3-1 series lead.
Other notes from Denver:
- Bednar also stated that injured forward Joel Kiviranta will be an option tonight, though it is less clear that he will be placed into the Avalanche lineup as quickly as Manson might be. Kiviranta has missed five games with an undisclosed injury, but before his absence, skated as Colorado’s fourth-line left winger. Kiviranta’s spot in the lineup – though not necessarily his exact role – has since been filled by veteran Ross Colton. Bednar and the Avalanche may be less eager to swap out Colton for Kiviranta, simply given the fact that Colton has a stronger track record in the NHL (he has crossed the 15-goal mark four times) and has more playoff experience. Colton has played in 69 Stanley Cup Playoff contests and is a Stanley Cup champion.
- Jack Ahcan appears to have been recalled from the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, Evan Rawal of the Denver Gazette reported today. Ahcan has been a spare blueliner for the club and someone who has shuttled between the Avalanche and AHL Eagles quite a bit this season. The Eagles begin a Pacific Division Final series against the Coachella Valley Firebirds on Wednesday night, so Ahcan may only be on the NHL roster on a brief basis.
Canadiens Recall Four Players
The Montreal Canadiens announced today that they have recalled four players from their AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket: Forwards Owen Beck and Florian Xhekaj, as well as defensemen Adam Engström and David Reinbacher.
The Rocket were eliminated from the Calder Cup Playoffs yesterday, falling in the fifth game of their best-of-five North Division Semifinal against the Toronto Marlies.
These recalls help reinforce the depth of the Canadiens roster as they look to continue their push towards the Eastern Conference Final. Montreal took a 2-1 series lead against the Buffalo Sabres last night, courtesy of a 6-2 win in game three. Game four of the series is Tuesday night in Montreal.
These four players represent some of the best of the Canadiens’ organizational depth, and notably, none of the players recalled are even 23 years old. Beck and Engström were added to the Canadiens organization at the 2022 draft, part of a haul that has already become franchise-changing. Reinbacher was the No. 5 overall pick at the 2023 draft and Xhekaj, who is the younger brother of Canadiens blueliner Arber Xhekaj, was picked in the fourth round that year.
The player that is most immediately NHL-ready is likely Engström, a 22-year-old Swedish defenseman. After he was drafted in 2022, Engström spent two years developing at the professional level in his native Sweden playing for Rögle BK. In 2024, he crossed the Atlantic and made his debut in the Canadiens organization, playing in 66 games for the Laval Rocket.
Engström has had a stellar 2025-26 season, scoring 10 goals and 34 points in 45 games for the Rocket while also earning 15 NHL games with the Canadiens. Scott Wheeler of The Athletic rated Engström as the No. 6 prospect in Montreal’s system, calling him someone who “could become a No. 5-6” defenseman “with some modern elements” to his game.
The Canadiens’ defense already skews to left-shot blueliners, which means he faces stiffer competition in his efforts to land a full-time role in Montreal. That’s not the case for Reinbacher, the team’s No. 4 prospect according to Wheeler. Reinbacher is a big right-shot defenseman who plays a composed, steady game. Persistent injury issues have slowed the pace of his development, putting him behind some of his peers from the 2023 draft class. But he had a strong season playing in all situations in Laval and should be a real contender for an NHL role next fall.
Beck, 22, is Montreal’s No. 7 prospect according to Wheeler and is, like the two defensemen, on the cusp of making the leap to the NHL on a more permanent basis.
A hard-working two-way center, Beck scored 15 goals and 44 points in 64 games as an AHL rookie last season, and scored 13 goals and 33 points in 58 games this year.
He also added five points in five playoff games this season. Beck already has 28 NHL games under his belt and could push for a bottom-six role in training camp.
The fourth player recalled was Xhekaj, a forward who is one of Montreal’s faster-rising prospects. He was picked in the fourth round despite scoring just 25 points in his draft campaign in the OHL. But the Canadiens saw something in the forward that gave them the confidence to draft him in that round despite relatively low offensive numbers. Co-director of amateur scouting Nick Bobrov called Xhekaj a “unicorn” during the team’s pre-draft process.
Since being selected, all Xhekaj has done is reward the team’s faith in him. He became a point-per-game OHL scorer and had a strong rookie pro campaign with the Rocket in 2024-25, scoring 24 goals and 35 points. He also added 175 penalty minutes. This past year, Xhekaj scored 17 goals and 29 points, racking up 182 penalty minutes. His blend of size, physicality, and goal-scoring ability gives him a chance to become a well-liked bottom-six forward in the NHL.
All four skaters recalled today by the Canadiens are players who could very well play a role in the NHL next season. They represent the next wave of youthful NHL reinforcements the Canadiens are set to receive, fruits of a rebuild that already appears to be paying off. While none is particularly likely to draw into the lineup during this run, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see some – or all – of these faces in the NHL at this time next year.
Photos courtesy of Perry Nelson-Imagn Images
Philadelphia Flyers Recall Jett Luchanko
The Philadelphia Flyers announced that top prospect Jett Luchanko has been recalled from his OHL team, the Brantford Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs recently lost in game seven of the OHL’s Eastern Conference Final to the Barrie Colts, ending their season. That has freed Luchanko to join the Flyers as a (likely) reserve player. The Flyers’ AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, did not qualify for the postseason.
The Flyers have lost the first two games of their series against the Carolina Hurricanes, and a loss tomorrow would push them to the brink of elimination. As a result, it is highly unlikely Luchanko actually gets to dress for games on this recall, but there is nonetheless some value in him getting the chance to join the Flyers in the midst of their run.
The 19-year-old is one of Philadelphia’s very best prospects. He was selected No. 13 overall at the 2024 draft, and has made the Flyers’ main roster out of training camp in back-to-back seasons. Each year, Luchanko has been reassigned back to junior hockey after playing in four NHL games.
Luchanko didn’t have the best season in the OHL this year, scoring 50 points in 53 combined regular-season and playoff contests across two different OHL teams. It’s not always the best sign for such a highly-drafted forward prospect to be scoring at below a point-per-game rate in the CHL a full two years after he was drafted, but Luchanko’s game has always been about more than just scoring. Elite Prospects, who ranked Luchanko as the No. 30 prospect in the NHL entering the season, called the forward a “mature defensive player” and “high-floor prospect.”
Now, as his junior season has come to a close, Luchanko will get the chance to soak in as much as he can by joining the Flyers for their playoff run.
Transaction Notes: Koblar, Liukas, Sekac
Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Tinus Luc Koblar will exit his club Leksands IF as a result of their relegation to Sweden’s second tier, the HockeyAllsvenskan. Koblar is a 2025 second-round pick of the club and was Toronto’s highest selection of its 2025 draft class. He was ranked as the No. 4 prospect in Toronto’s system by Scott Wheeler of The Athletic, who called Koblar a “big, strong, sturdy center who can skate.”
Koblar is coming off of a solid first season since being drafted. Although the lack of success found by his club was undoubtedly disappointing, he had a strong year individually. He made his professional debut for Leksands and managed to stick with the club’s senior team for most of the season, scoring eight goals and 14 points in 47 games. As an 18-year-old who found a way to hold down a full-season role in one of Europe’s best leagues, Koblar could very well have an NHL future ahead of him, though scouts such as Wheeler project that future to be somewhere on an NHL team’s fourth line.
Other transactions from the European leagues:
- New York Islanders prospect Eetu Liukas has elected to return to Europe after a three-year run playing professional hockey in North America. Liukas, 23, was a fifth-round pick of the Islanders, No. 157 overall. Liukas spent two years playing in the Finnish Liiga on a full-time basis after being drafted, before heading to North America in 2023. He spent three years with the AHL’s Bridgeport Islanders, but didn’t make huge progress. This past season, he scored 10 points in 24 games, and now he will continue his career back in Finland. He signed a contract with Liiga side HIFK Helsinki, on a deal stretching until the end of the 2027-28 campaign.
- Former NHLer Jiri Sekac, who once upon a time represented the Montreal Canadiens at an All-Star game (in a spot designated for rookies) has signed a contract to return to his native Czechia. His deal is with HC Sparta Praha, who play out of the Czech capital. Sekac has had an extensive professional career in Europe but hasn’t played in the Extraliga since a 21-game loan to Sparta Praha in 2012-13. A two-time KHL Gagarin Cup champion, Sekac has spent the last half-decade of his career in Switzerland, including the last two years with HC Lugano.
Team Canada Notes: Bouchard, Nurse, McKenna, Whitecloud
A pair of Edmonton Oilers defensemen are going to represent Canada at the upcoming IIHF Men’s World Championships: Evan Bouchard and Darnell Nurse. (Reported by TSN’s Darren Dreger) The addition of Bouchard gives Canada a player who could very well end up the top offensive defenseman at the tournament. The 26-year-old is coming off of a season where he scored a career-high 21 goals and 95 points. The addition of Nurse gives Canada another NHL top-four defenseman with extensive playoff experience. Nurse averaged 20:58 time on ice per game this season, No. 2 on the Oilers.
Bouchard has yet to represent Canada as a professional, but represented his country in international tournaments in junior hockey. He was part of Team Canada at the World Juniors in the 2018-19 season though his team lost in the quarterfinals. Nurse, on the other hand, has represented Canada at two World Championships: 2018 and 2019. Canada lost the bronze medal to the United States in Nurse’s first trip to the tournament, and won a silver medal in his second.
Other notes from around the hockey world:
- Top 2026 NHL draft prospect Gavin McKenna will not join Team Canada for the upcoming tournament, reversing earlier reports that indicated he would. TSN’s Darren Dreger reported the decision as a group choice meant to allow McKenna to focus his attention on the upcoming scouting combine. McKenna has long been considered the front-runner to go No. 1 overall at this year’s draft, though Corey Pronman of The Athletic recently characterized the race for No. 1 as being more wide-open.
- Another defenseman will join the Canadian entry into IIHF Worlds: Calgary Flames blueliner Zach Whitecloud, as reported by Sportsnet 960’s Pat Steinberg. This won’t be the 29-year-old blueliner’s first trip to the World Championships. He represented Canada at the 2022 tournament, scoring four points in 10 games for a Canada team that fell in overtime in the gold medal game against Finland.
Wild To Start Filip Gustavsson In Game 2
The Minnesota Wild are making a change in their crease: the team plans to start Filip Gustavsson tonight for the second game of their series against the Colorado Avalanche. Gustavsson replaces Jesper Wallstedt, who surrendered eight goals in the team’s 9-6 loss to Colorado in game one.
Head coach John Hynes told the media, including The Athletic’s Michael Russo and Joe Smith, that there were a “multitude of reasons” factoring into the decision. He said that while both goalies are “excellent,” he views game two as “a good opportunity to get [Gustavsson] in the net.” Hynes characterized Gustavsson has “hungry” to get back on the ice.
Hynes made a point to emphasize that this move is not an indictment of Wallstedt’s performance in the playoffs. The 23-year-old posted a .916 save percentage in 35 games in the regular season, and has a .903 save percentage in seven playoff games.
Gustavsson, 27, is the veteran (relatively speaking) in the Wild crease. He’s been the team’s No. 1 goalie for a few seasons now, having developed into the role first as part of a tandem with Marc-Andre Fleury.
In the 2025-26 regular season, he posted a .904 save percentage in 50 games. Last season, he had a .914 save percentage in 58 games, landing him in sixth place in Vezina Trophy voting and even earning him down-ballot Hart Trophy votes.
Unlike Wallstedt, Gustavsson brings prior experience in the NHL playoffs. He’s made a total of 11 starts in the postseason, and while he’s only collected four wins, he does have a solid .917 save percentage in those contests.
The Wild will need to find a way to keep the puck out of the net to tie the series against Colorado, but injuries suffered by Jonas Brodin and Joel Eriksson Ek, neither of whom traveled with the team, makes that task a more difficult one.